A sad end to a woodpecker

October 30, 2015 • 6:50 am

by Matthew Cobb

This macabre photo illustrates how birds are able to sleep while they roost – their claws are adapted to grasp when the muscles are relaxed. So even though this bird has died (causes unknown), it is still clinging to the tree. This is also why all those drawings you see of pterodactyls roosting in trees are rong – they didn’t have this adaptation, so couldn’t perch.

 

26 thoughts on “A sad end to a woodpecker”

  2. That explains, too, how they manage not to be blown away in stormy weather. At least those that perch in trees. Water fowl… how do they manage?

    1. Hmm. Starting off hunkered down on the ground probably helps some. Greater body weight. Probably behavioral adjustment–relocating to lee areas–as necessary…

    1. Seems like bats must have some sort of automatic grippiness thing going on too, else they’d fall down when sleeping/hibernating!

    2. Pterodactyls might have rooster in trees rather like Fruit Bats, head down.

      That’s highly implausible. Their feet aren’t designed for upside-down hanging, any more than your feet are, though they are designed for walking, running, and wading capabilities depending on species and lifestyle. That mostly requires open, flat, or wet terrain.

      Pterosaurs are extremely front-heavy fliers that walk and take off on four legs, which means that unlike bipedal birds, they don’t need strengthened back limbs. With the exception of squirrel-like early forms, which in any case were clamberers, none of them would have spent much time in forests, much less have hung upside-down on branches.

    1. Somehow, I don’t think that’s much good for the woodpecker. After all, it’s not its genes.

  5. Wood Ducks do have a spur but I don’t think that helps much to cling to a branch. They seem to choose branches that are larger than their feet. Maybe the spur comes into effect when entering the nest hole.

  6. I don’t think its sad, I think its awesome (assuming the bird died of natural causes). If I were a woodpecker and had to go, what better position to leave in than clinging to a tree like that, showing your beauty and power all at the same time? What self-respecting woodpecker would want to die lying down in a nest or on the ground?

      2. This is more the equivalent of dying in bed, in your sleep. Which, as they go, is really not a bad way to go.

    2. I agree. Last spring, I found a dead woodpecker on my grass. Probably killed by flying into a window, a pretty sad way to go for a bird.
      And the facts that it was beautiful and rare add to the sadness, in my mind.

  8. Awwwww poor dead woodpecker.

    Woody will be remembered for his love of hammering, his tough beak and his whimsical personality.

  9. I’m not doubting the knowledge, but how exactly do we know pterodactyls didn’t have this adaptation? Perhaps their toes/feet tell the tale? What about more birdy dinos like archaeopteryx?

    1. Because their fossils are only found underneath trees, not in them. Bu dum dah!

      I think the answer is that pterodactyls lack the pulley system of tendons that enable birds to grasp as they bend their knees.

      1. You’ll be here all the veek! 🙂

        Your second reason makes sense, I was unaware of a bird’s pulley system. Thanks for the learning.

    2. Pterosaur feet are flat like human feet. Some of the earlier forms might have been sprightly enough to clamber in trees and light enough to run up them, but the rest were better designed for flat land, wading, gliding, and other pursuits that don’t demand grasping hind feet.

      As for dinosaurs, I’m not sure, but they had clawed tiptoe feet with more robust leg muscles relative to the body (which is why birds take off by jumping rather than vaulting themselves into the air), so they’d probably have managed reasonably well. Nowhere near as well as a woodpecker or other modern birds, though. Certainly, there are winged dinosaurs that were small and lived in forests in China, so it’s not a stretch to think they could perch, if clumsily.

      1. Thanks for the great information in your comment. I get most of my dinosaur factoids from the Jurassic Park quartet. 😉

        But if three movies make a trilogy, what are four movies called?

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